Nigella Lawson is a proud feminist. At the weekend, though, the TV presenter professed she fears a desire to avoid being stuck by the stove has made women her age dread cooking. “How can this be good for anyone?” she asked in the Observer Food Monthly. “I also feel that to denigrate any activity because it has traditionally been associated with the female sphere is in itself anti-feminist.”

Given women tend to spend many more hours on chores than their less house-proud halves, it’s easy to understand why some opt for the ready meal over the ready-in-an-hour meal. But it’s perfectly possible to have Delia sitting on your shelf next to Dworkin, the Domestic Goddess beside the Female Eunuch. So here’s how you can mix feminism with the other f-word (that’s food, folks).

1) MEN BELONG IN THE KITCHEN TOO

Phwoar! There’s nothing hotter than a man in an apron — mostly because it means there’s someone to top and tail the beans while you peel the spuds, pressing fast forward on food production. So pick a partner who is more Nigel Slater than Homer Simpson in the kitchen, or pack Mr Can’t Cook off to Cordon Bleu with a toque blanche in the bag. Either way, try to split the cooking fifty-fifty.

2) BACKWARDS AND IN HIGH HEELS

... are not good approaches to cooking. But like Ginger Rogers, it seems female chefs must work harder than their male counterparts to get the same recognition. As the chef Michael Caines noted in 2011, in many restaurant and hotel kitchens a “macho” culture remains and women are pushed towards the (supposedly less-pressurised) patisserie plate. In fact, just 20 per cent of British chefs are female. Since we women still need to smash the glass casserole pot, don your “This is what a chef looks like” T-shirt and fight to ensure your daughters can thrive in the (professional) kitchen.

3) MY FAVOURITE ANIMAL IS STEAK

American writer Fran Lebowitz, who joked she preferred dead cows to cuddly kittens, was wise to resist the distinction between “male” and “female” foods. There is, of course, no such thing — just good food and bad food. No woman should feel pressured into rustling up a salad rather than a juicy rump, in the same way anything that has ever been marketed as “not for girls” (the Yorkie bar) or female-friendly (Cadbury’s Crispello) should be shunned. Recall the brilliant women who love steak — Lebowitz, Nora Ephron and Dorothy Parker — and get grilling. Also, most of the beef cows we eat are male, so you’re doing the bovine sisterhood a favour.

4) STOP BAKING CUPCAKES

Personally, I hate the cloying pastel icing, the glitter and the fact that what were once “fairy cakes” have had an American re-branding. But according to an article on the feminist blog Jezebel, if cupcakes didn’t exist the patriarchy would invent them. It claims the cupcake represents domesticity, modesty and sweetness. “Cupcakes represent measured indulgence,” it goes on. “They represent prescribed modes of femininity and our cultural fixation on eternal girlhood.” Also, Mitt Romney, he of the binders full of women, eats cupcakes. Oh, and brownies taste better anyway.

5) EATING ISN’T ORGASMIC

Betty Friedan noted “no woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor”. Well, no woman has ever reached the ecstatic heights through eating chocolate either, contrary to all ads which imply otherwise. But nor should chowing down on cake mix be a source of guilt. The greatest feminist victory on food would be to break the binge-guilt cycle and make the fridge our friend.